Sufjan Stevens Thinks He is Worth More Than Amazon Does

All musicians like to think of themselves as artists. I frequently refer to performing musicians as artists and, in truth, they are. However, there is, at least to me, a very distinct line between what pop musicians (and that is really any music that isn’t jazz, blues, classical or traditional music like Celtic) do and what others do. What pop artists do is pop art and is subject to the whims of a fickle public not to mention the economy.

Enter Sufjan Stevens, the eclectic singer/songwriter whose self-owned label recently complained about the bulk pricing structure of music on Amazon.com.

“We have mixed feelings about discounted pricing,” the e-mail read. “Like we said, we love getting good music into the hands of good people, and when a price is low, more people buy. A low price will introduce a lot of people to Sufjan’s music and to this wonderful album. For that, we’re grateful.”

It continued, “But we also feel like the work that our artists produce is worth more than a cost of a latte. We value the skill, love, and time they’ve put into making their records. And we feel that our work too, in promotion and distribution, is also valuable and worthwhile.”

What your music is worth is what the general public is willing to pay for it. Period. Musicians like Stevens would never try to book a gig at the Toyota Center because he couldn’t sell enough seats to justify the venue. He understands that to maximize the value of the ticket, he needs to be in a place that will sell out, thereby making his tickets more valuable and worth the cost, whatever that might be.

That’s simple economics, which is why this whole “we also feel like the work that our artists produce is worth more than a cost of a latte” business strikes me as a little off. Is it reallyworth more than the cost of a latte? I’m sure they would like it to be, but wanting it to be doesn’t make it so.

Fact is, many people don’t want to pay for music at all. The end result is popular download sites and peer-to-peer trading services. Music doesn’t have the value that it once did, but it was never really worth what record labels thought in the 80’s and 90’s either.

The reality is that the value of music is dropping and will eventually reach some sort of equilibrium probably well below what the folks at Stevens’ label Asthmatic Kitty would like, but “them’s the breaks” as my dad used to say.

I’m fairly certain Stevens would take another job if he couldn’t make a living doing what he is doing rather than starve. Sure, art is important, but so is the rent. When at least one of the aims of your art is to make money, you can’t complain when capitalism intervenes. I didn’t hear the folks at Stevens’ label saying, “Gosh, I really don’t think this record is worth the ten dollars iTunes is charging. They really should re-think their pricing structure.”